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Competing startup founders in the People Operations Technology competition
applaud on stage at the Kapor Center in Oakland on Thursday, December 7.
(Courtesy Tiffany Price/Kapor Center for Social Impact)

OAKLAND — Before attending Harvard Business School, Rahkeem Morris once was a high school dropout in a single-parent household in Albany, New York. He worked three part-time jobs, including at a Taco Bell, to support himself and his family.

He returned to high school and graduated at age 20. And then Morris excelled: He graduated magna cum laude from Cornell, worked at GE and Google, and now studies at Harvard Business School.

He also founded a startup called Aday Technologies, focused on better scheduling for workers with multiple hourly shifts and eliminating the need for last-minute calls from managers to immediately come into work.

“Some days, it fuels me,” said Morris about his early troubles. “But some days, I’m just glad I got out.”

At the People Operations Tech competition hosted at the Kapor Center in downtown Oakland on Thursday, Morris was more the norm than the exception. Kapor Center and its venture capital arm Kapor Capital — known for their advocacy to increase diversity in Silicon Valley — hosted the competition for the third year. Ten startups pitched ideas focused on eliminating workplace bias, discrimination and harassment to a panel of judges, who then decided how to give out $100,000 in prize money.

In light of the sexual harassment revelations shaking Hollywood, Capitol Hill and Silicon Valley, judges and founders felt a new sense of gravity when discussing the issue. Several startups’ presentations showed slides highlighting news headlines about those accused of sexual harassment and assault, leaving no doubt what problem they are trying to fix.

“It’s easier (for startups) to now pitch their solutions because there’s no need to convince this is a problem,” said Toni Schneider, a co-founder of True Ventures and a judge of the competition. “Everybody in this competition is in the right moment.”

Schneider said he was impressed by Morris and his startup’s humane approach for service workers — a common blind spot for startups.

But Morris won second place and $25,000.

The top $50,000 prize went to Qualified, a hiring platform to improve hiring of engineers and eliminate any unconscious bias. Through Qualified, companies could quickly screen applicants through custom or ready-made engineering tests and eliminate resumes as a hiring factor.

Its CEO, Nathan Doctor, said he started Qualified after his encounters with many talented engineers, who had unconventional and underwhelming resumes, at his past company.

“We want companies to go from old hiring practices with resumes to a more merit-based one,” said Doctor.

Other startups in the competition addressed a wide variety of problems and marginalized people to help. Some included: one that examined employer-employee emails using artificial intelligence to uncover any bias and help improve communication; one which helped refugees get basic technology jobs and mentor them into more advanced roles; and another which allowed employees to anonymously report workplace bias or discrimination.

Many, including Morris’ startup, relied on artificial intelligence as a helping hand to create a more inclusive work environment, despite recent concerns that artificial intelligence also is unconsciously biased like its human creators.

But Morris pushed back, saying artificial intelligence built with inclusivity in mind can be a cure for the existing concerns.

“People like us are looking into technologies which can counteract on these biases,” said Morris.

Seung covers Apple and personal technology for the Bay Area News Group. He was previously a technology reporter for Newsweek and a weekly columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. Seung grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from UC Berkeley.

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